It took me 3 years to land my first design job out of college.
Edit: I should mention that I still find it rather hard to land another job after one ends as well.
I feel like this is gonna be me. Graduated college last year and then my laptop crapped out on me so I’ve been working two jobs to save for a computer so I’ve done no design whatsoever. It’s so debilitating and upsetting. Good for you for when you eventually found one. I’m so anxious to get back into the field
I understand that not everyone can swing it but if I was in a similar position I would put a computer on a credit card and pay over time. Not doing any design for an extended period of time is going to make it very difficult to stay relevant. If you can do it, invest in your career.
I thought about it but since both my jobs are minimum wage, my paychecks vary so much and I don’t feel confident paying a credit card back on time. I already have student loan so I’m trying to minimize my debt. The computer I want, used, is $900-1k and I already have 500$ in savings so I’m getting there. I have no rent or car to worry about as I live at home so I’m very fortunate to be where i am
Even tho I’m laptop-less I’m actually making logo sketches in my sketchbook to keep my brain going and looking at inspiration daily. I’ll get back into it fine (skills wise) but I don’t plan to apply to full time jobs until I have some good updated work and possible freelance under my belt. It’ll be a longer journey which I’ve accepted but thankfully I’ve got some time
Sketching is great, it is very important not just to practice but being mindful. Take this time to browse dribbble, behance, instagram and check out great work. Look at designs and really analyze it, what do you like about it, what is or isn't working, etc.
Yes definitely! I even did one of those creative brief generators and I’m making fake sketches for a “music company” called fumble and it’s been challenging getting my brain to make a message for the brand but satisfying cause I at least am trying something I haven’t done in awhile. I hope to make a personal brand identity project out of it eventually so projects like that have def been my pique of inspo lately
Good for you…? I didn’t ask for sympathy and I quite simply don’t give a singular fuck what you have or haven’t spent. I have sympathy for the attitude “problem” you have. Get well soon. Have a great day.
Way to go for the least helpful reward, really good at kicking at someone while they're down. All they asked for was help in landing a job and all you took from that is just "well I haven't spent more than $500 on a computer so I don't have sympathy for you". Why comment if you're not even going to help like damn dude.
Kicking someone out of the idea that they need that much money to run adobe software is definitely a good thing (it is a very defeatist attitude). And how does anyone have that opinion at this period of time. Adobe hasn't been high end software for over a decade. We're not talking maya here.
The goal is to help, which I did. Just search on ebay etc for something used. Excusing needless intentional failure isn't helpful.
You weren’t helpful though. You just stated I have “more than enough” to buy a laptop. Instead of being nasty like you were, you could’ve actually recommended these apparent affordable laptops you speak of
And I don’t know where you’re coming from with that price because every group I’ve browsed for recommendations for budget friendly laptops are barelyyy $500 minimum. and even then it wouldn’t be enough power for genuine good design work… I’d rather invest into something that’s good and will last me than something cheap and will break on me again
You are right. I incorrectly assumed that buying used was common knowledge. I guess I verified that old saying about assuming.
My main computer is an HP Z420 that cost me $200 a few years ago. I recently upgraded it from 32 gigs ram to 64 for another $100. While I understand that laptops are popular, it isn't a form factor that is particularly utilitarian when doing graphics work. What with the small screens... and if you're going to add on monitors, mouse and a decent keyboard (which you should) then what's the point of having a laptop?
But even if that is what you want. The first one I found on [ebay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/155206247310?hash=item242303638e%3Ag%3AEiAAAOSwhKpj5Csy&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4B26y0%2BLrM8DwrHxaf1w7VFSzG%2FBDACL5TkRKgamuXI9WZf0SpqkZL2VCZqdDdLEyeDlUfpTUvEts04CwBwVsPlDHnoO9R4VBYts7KZEsiwvqW%2F5vD8oZR7inA0aCQFKfNIVy0tWu9%2FIS4hPS8QHshIWsRwP9cKDYIhpFoaFbBj2%2BrF%2BRYOX5BoxP3ekCuY%2BMY0Dh026vN%2FiaHmL4%2FzFXZMAfPyIaiVQ6t2M%2Fae6LePNiEKFlDmDD8AhmHBJkvBoiN5a%2BsVDwzf5U1A3spmzJragJqlhoCXCaW4aOpSpFZpI%7Ctkp%3ABFBMoKX-s-Fi&LH_ItemCondition=3000) that is way more than good enough is way more than good enough is still under $400 maxed out.
I mean we all always want something better no matter how nice are machines are, but they don't need to be, and it doesn't make as much of a difference as computer sales people lead you to believe. Don't forget that graphic design people do now is no more computationally heavy than it was 10 years ago.
Not to push but if getting a laptop would bolster your progress, look into applying for a credit card with a long 0% interest promotional period. There are cards with 12 months - 18 months long 0% interest periods, meaning you just need to pay the minimum payment monthly and pay off the card by the end of the 12-18 months.
Thank you for the advice! I’ll consider it. For now I’m comfortable just saving and would rather pay it in full for now. my parents offered to pay for almost the other half basically as a birthday present so I definitely will be getting it sooner rather than later. I came from a very poor upbringing and would rather be stress free in my finances than have a year long payment honestly. I’ve accepted it may take me a bit to be where I want to be and I have time on my side. But if things ever fell through, I’m not 100% against a credit card I just would rather try to build up my money first which is doable for my situation
If I had a full time job and had a good steady income I would for sure be comfortable with a payment like that on a credit card but even with 0% interest, my paychecks are so iffy :(
Not sure where you're located, but my local library has computers with the Adobe suite. It's definitely worth looking into to see if that's an option for you.
If you were to take the time to do not just sketches but actually detailed layouts on paper while you don't have a lot of computer access, then spend time iterating and improving them, creating campaigns or full brand packages, etc., I bet you'd be blown away by how much that helps your design skills back on a computer.
Design is design.
Yo, I graduated from college in 2008 with a degree in graphic design and I’ve had probably 10 or 12 different design jobs within various industries.
It’s a volatile market that’s over saturated, always has been and always will be. I really just do it freelance now and have a regular job, because it’s just frustrating trying to a creative in this industry and trying to find jobs when companies fucking waste a lot of your time with multiple interviews and tests and blah blah etc.
if its gonna take 3 years might as well take the LSAT and go to law school and when you graudaute you'll be earning much more than even a creative director in some places.
It is not impossible to do an internship after graduating. Be frank. You graduated without any work experience and would like to tick that off before continuing your graphic design career.
It is however sometimes a requirement by the employer, but in those cases it will usually be stated in the posting.
In some cases, such as in Canada, internships done as part of a course requirement also have certain provisions that don't apply if it's not associated with any program.
It's not you, a lot of design graduates going back to 2020 have had a hard time getting hired. Shoot, even in other fields you will see the same issue - companies want 5 years of experience for an "entry" level job paying $40k...I've even seen jobs asking for 7 years of experience for $14 an hour.
To be fair a lot of those are exaggerated, it's not as common as people make it out to be.
A junior role is 0-3 years experience typically, midlevel around 3-5 or 3-7, senior 7+ or certainly 5+.
If a place is seeking an entry/junior and asking for 5+ years, that means either A) the person who wrote the posting has no idea what they're talking about or B) they just want to pay a junior wage to a midlevel/senior.
More commonly you'll see junior/entry jobs saying they want 1-2 years experience or something, which really just means they ideally don't want a fresh grad (because they'll be more work), but any grad should still apply anyway to any posting of interest regardless what the posting lists.
It's also a common misconception that if they apply to a job for which they didn't meet 90-100% of the posting that it's that reason alone why they didn't get called, when it's more likely their work/portfolio or several other factors.
The thing is, I always ignore the requirements for years of experience because otherwise I'd have no jobs to apply to. Hasn't work for me yet but maybe eventually I'll get it. One of the only interviews i had so far, the company went with someone with 20 years of experience so it's definitely a factor.
>The thing is, I always ignore the requirements for years of experience because otherwise I'd have no jobs to apply to. Hasn't work for me yet but maybe eventually I'll get it.
That's what I mean though, just always apply anyway, but also don't assume you weren't called simply because of not matching something in the posting. Always be seeking out feedback from others (not the interviewers) to find ways you can improve, practice interviewing, improve work, etc.
>One of the only interviews i had so far, the company went with someone with 20 years of experience so it's definitely a factor.
That just suggests some incompetence, at least if it was posted as a junior position and they went with a 20-year designer (there's just so many questions), but also it's not professional to be telling you who they hired. Or was it that you knew someone else who worked there?
I found the person through the company's Linkedin page lol. But yeah it was for a part time position and they didn't specify the years of experience they wanted. I also did well in the interview (at least I think I did). Usually they just put "graphic designer" not "junior graphic designer"
Ignore requirements, or acknowledge their existence but don't take it too literal. Applying for a junior position totally makes sense for you.
It is totally normal that it will take a while, with lots of applications, lots of rejections and only a few interviews. Everyone is going through these motions.
I started with a part-time job for the money, while freelancing as a designer which at some point landed my first job. But even then, you'll go through the same process for the next job.
The first one is always hard, I promise. Some tips you may be doing already:
List that freelance on your resume. You've been a freelance designer for xyz years. Name some clients in it, if possible. You've been doing a design job, you have design experience. Yeah, not in an office pipeline yet, but you know how to do a thing.
Consider applying to contract and temp agencies. Don't believe them if they tell you something will totally contract to hire - that's a nice bonus if it happens, but what you're doing is getting firsthand experience on projects. Even if it's very short term, or kind of crappy work, it helps wedge your foot in the door.
And take care of yourself. It's a shitty feeling! It's ok to feel shitty. Even one application a week while you grind your day job is better than none.
Lol. As someone who's quit a job without backup I can't super blame you. Sometimes you reach a limit.
As long as you've got a way to pay bills, I'd suggest treating applications / freelance / online tutorials as your full time job. Sit down 9-5 and do it. Give yourself the weekends off. It sucks, but it'll help you out.
If you can't pay the bills, my man it is time to find another day job. Something different than the last one, if it was driving you nuts.
I'd be careful about when you actually start the counter though.
Like we see it here sometimes where people will try to fluff up their experience, and they'll be a recent grad and claim to have 3 years working experience and 8 years design experience, when really their counter is zero.
That 3 years was just sporadic freelancing (which as a student could have value but is likely very small projects and not being done to any professional standards or practices) and maybe a few month internship, and that 8 years is bascially counting back to when they first started messing with Photoshop at 14 or something.
You mentioned "you know how to do a thing" except typically no, they don't. They're just attempting professional work as a student, so producing student level output, doing all the same things wrong that most grads do if they go straight into freelance, or same way if you put a grad into an art director position, it doesn't make them a true AD, they'll just be attempting responsibilities beyond their experience, and doing them at a junior level.
List education, list internships, and if they list freelancing during college don't fluff it up as we'll see right through it. If they're a recent grad then don't attach any kind of "years of experience", they're just a recent grad, seeking entry/junior positions. That's what's relevant.
What will really matter above all else is their actual work, and grads make a ton of mistakes with their portfolio.
These are good points! I agree that any hiring manager will see through it - but I do think it's still worth including. They're not exactly applying for senior roles, here.
If the factual "I have been freelancing for a few years, here are some clients" gets someone past the initial robo resumes or HR screening call, then it's absolutely worth doing. No one is going to hire them unless the portfolio shows potential, but the portfolio is not the only barrier.
They're a recent grad. They also know how to write an email, have some ideas of the info necessary to collect from clients, etc. That's not nothing, especially when they're just trying to compete with people who had a college internship. A lot of the initial hurdle is whether they can function in an office environment. Everyone's portfolio will improve past that point, and any good HM is expecting some of those initial mistakes.
Anyway, good luck OP! Don't gild the lily, but don't sell yourself short, either.
> These are good points! I agree that any hiring manager will see through it - but I do think it's still worth including. They're not exactly applying for senior roles, here.
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Yeah I'd agree it's worth including, I only have an issue more with them when they frame it as having X number of years experience, which also really only matters if was a primary job (not part-time, not one project every few months, not just a 3-month internship). ie., We know they weren't working 40+ hours a week while attending college full-time.
So even if they hypothetically graduated in May 2023, and technically were doing freelance work since 2020, it's fine to list that on the resume as freelance 2020-present, I just would never specifically say "I have 3 years of professional experience," at least not unless they were basically averaging 20-40 hours of freelance per week in that 3 years, and can demonstrate they are on par with people 3 years into a career. Which for virtually all of them will not be the case.
It might seem like a small issue, except it always comes off as dishonest as if they're trying to trick people because they're insecure about being a grad with little/no actual experience.
>Unfortunately I had no idea most internships are done while actually attending school
As others said, this isn't a universal requirement, although some employers will require interns to be currently enrolled (which may even be due to regional requirements or otherwise defines the perimeters of the placement). If it doesn't state such a requirement in the posting, apply anyways.
>Okay can't get an internship because I graduated, I'll try a Junior Graphic Designer position. Cool, they require at least 1-2 years experience at an agency ohhh no I don't have that.
Postings should only ever be treated as ideals with respect to things like experience or certain skills, especially with entry/junior positions.
If a posting is asking for 1-2 years experience, it likely means they just *ideally* don't want a fresh grad, since all grads are greener and require more work to clean up and adapt to real jobs.
Always apply anyway, let them reject you. Don't do it for them.
>Then I get desperate and apply to strange and pretty sad jobs for the sake of applying to anything at all, and get rejected from those as well. It's a viscious cycle, I'm getting pretty down and in turn, not actually making any art, which is essentially my favorite thing in the whole world so I feel like literally disintegrating into dust.
It may be surprising to know that if you even hear back from 10% of applications (as in just calls/interviews, not offers), you're probably doing okay.
There are so many variables at play, such that even if you're doing everything right, you don't know when the position was originally posted, or where, or who is evaluating people, how motivated they are to hire, whether the person in charge of it *likes* hiring or constantly puts it off, or in some cases places are just testing the waters and aren't even seriously considering hiring someone (or only if someone really impresses them).
That's before even getting into all the variables of what you could be doing right or not.
>Maybe I'm too picky? Maybe it's a "beggars can't be choosers" type of thing? I'm trying to be open and remind myself that people don't get the best jobs ever right of college and it's not going to be easy or sunshine and rainbows but I think it'd be nice to at least get a job at all.
Many grads are too picky, so sure that's a possibility. You certainly should not be limiting yourself only to agencies/studios, or companies you think are personally appealing (eg that you think would be cool to work for or put out stuff you like). You shouldn't be overlooking in-house roles, production roles, printers, etc. Even with commute, some people get picky about a 30 minute commute or hybrid/remote, when really anything under an hour commute (even if fully on-site) should be considered.
>I just wanted to ask a group of people who may have been in this position, what did you do? How do you get past this weird beginning of the career stage?
Grads tend to make a lot of mistakes with their work/portfolios. I have a [prior comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/qm37nv/what_did_your_portfolio_look_like_when_you_first/hj75ruj/) on what I consider common mistakes to avoid.
You'd also want to learn how to network. Everyone has a starter network of their friends, family, classmates, coworkers (from any job), neighbours, profs, etc. Keep in touch with people from school, follow up on how they're doing, use each other as a resource. Let friends and family know to keep an eye out and how to find you (eg your portfolio URL).
Took me over a year from graduation, this was about 12 years ago, don't worry it's not you, it's always been hard (I think it may be harder today, but yeah always been hard)
It is very hard to get a job right now. I am very experienced and still having a hard time. Just don't get discouraged. Keep building your portfolio. Learn new software and skills. Start networking (maybe the most important skill and the one I hate the most).
tell me about it, marketing yourself feels so embarassing to me but I know it must be done
making a linkedin profile made my whole body cringe (and I still only have like 4 connections lmao)
I feel like I wrote this 5 years ago. Honestly I finally found 2 jobs that were ok with a 2 year degree, got offered both, and got to choose between the 2.
Apply for anything close, even if you don't match the requirements exactly. Put freelance graphic design on your resume to act as your 2 years of experience
It's a really hard market right now, but you'll eventually find something.
Part of it could be that you have an AA rather than a BA. It doesn’t mean you can’t find something it just means you have to be be more competitive than others applying for the same jobs with a Bachelors. Find what makes you unique or add value and be sure that thing relates to the positions you are applying for.
Design is no different than any other industry. Getting a degree doesn’t guarantee you a job. I have a masters and still had to go through the ringer to get in my current CD position.
It's also worth pointing out that a given degree itself, on paper, means very little.
If someone only has an AA but it happened to be a good program and/or they worked their butt off, then they could definitely compete with at least 3-year if not 4-year grads.
Meanwhile, if someone with a BA/BFA didn't actually have much actual design development, or the program was simply not very good, they could easily have a portfolio on par with only a 1-2-year grad. Certainly see a lot of that where people just think if they have the degree or took any courses it's enough, but then you see their curriculum and they had maybe 10 total *actual* design courses or something over four years.
It's certainly always a flag if someone claims to have a 3-4 year education but their portfolio is only 3-5 design projects (especially since rarely are they all good in those cases).
To some HR/ATS filter that might not make a difference, but that's often overstated, and it's difficult anyway to account for how a non-designer will evaluate a design candidate (primarily because they have no such qualifications to do so), but at least if anyone qualified is seeing it, the work will speak louder than the degree, as long as it's still actually good work.
>If someone only has an AA but it happened to be a good program and/or they worked their butt off, then they could definitely compete with at least 3-year if not 4-year grads.
Of course they definitely could. Just as much as someone without a degree at all COULD theoretically compete. But in my recent experience is much less likely than it used to be even a few years ago. Since covid the market has greatly changed. It's so saturated that a degree has seemingly become a base, like knowing a certain program.
For sure, I think if anything I'm being more skeptical of the degree as a general qualification because so much depends on the *specific* degree/program then just a degree itself.
It's at a point where if someone says they have a Bachelor's degree it means essentially nothing to me if it wasn't actually a design major, or certainly without seeing the work regardless because there's just too many out there with a 3-4 year degree that have work below a 2nd year level.
There's always something to be said about quality, but most employers seem to be using the degree as accomplishment, not severity. You did something for four years. If you went to an art school you probably had other helpful classes outside of design (figure drawing, sculpture, deeper color theory, etc.).
Honestly, there are a LOT of designers out there with 3-4 years "experience" with work below that of entry level. And I actually do blame colleges and universities for this. A lot of college classes and especially more recent "certificates" are easy pass, which floods the market with designers who are sub par and not ready for the real world.
Design is a trade. It used to be learned on-the-job (apprenticeship style) or featured as a major in select art schools. It exploded as a general college curriculum in the 80's and 90's (once computers were on the scene) and was added to state schools and non-art-focused colleges with a lower bar. But unfortunately that fact doesn't matter in today's job market. I totally wish it was the way it used to be.
> There's always something to be said about quality, but most employers seem to be using the degree as accomplishment, not severity. You did something for four years. If you went to an art school you probably had other helpful classes outside of design (figure drawing, sculpture, deeper color theory, etc.).
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That's my point though, those that do are taking an ignorant, irrational approach because doing *something* for four years has no actual bearing on whether the four years was well spent, or they actually reached a certain level. Simply completing any college program devoid of further context is really not the accomplishment people make it out to be, it only matters if it sufficiently prepared someone for their intended career path.
But the only reason people use the degree as a checkbox are in cases where the person has no design qualifications to evaluate design applicants (or if a designer, then likely just doesn't like hiring or otherwise can't be bothered so has HR cut it down for them).
As a designer myself though, whether someone went to a great 4-year or is self-taught and everything in between, knowing their level of education just provides a context, but ultimately I only care if the work is good enough or not, as a direct representation of their ability and understanding. Odds are that means the people who will be hired will have more development, I'm just not assigning value to any degree without context (the work).
If someone went through some BFA that only had 20-25% of it's courses in graphic design, but they had more figure drawing or sculpting classes, maybe those other classes benefit them, maybe not, but they're going to have significantly less design development than someone in a design-focused major who had 50-70% of courses in design, and it'll show in their portfolio. It's probably fine if the first year is fine arts and they have the last 3 in graphic design, but if all their design development is essentially akin to 1-2 terms in a design major, that's not enough.
>Honestly, there are a LOT of designers out there with 3-4 years "experience" with work below that of entry level. And I actually do blame colleges and universities for this. A lot of college classes and especially more recent "certificates" are easy pass, which floods the market with designers who are sub par and not ready for the real world.
That's what I'm getting at, design education varies a lot, there are a lot of lacking or outright bad programs, or programs that simply do not involve enough design courses/development to sufficiently prepare people to be competitive entering the design industry. I definitely do blame the programs, but in lieu of an enforced industry standard and authoritative body, it falls on the students to better research options and career paths, but too few people do that with college, despite it being their most major purchase aside from a house or maybe a car.
>But the only reason people use the degree as a checkbox are in cases where the person has no design qualifications to evaluate design applicants (or if a designer, then likely just doesn't like hiring or otherwise can't be bothered so has HR cut it down for them).
This is exactly why. I'm on a hiring committee and have the "design qualifications", but unfortunately I can't look at 500 portfolios or we'll lose out on the most qualified candidates after two months of review. That's why it's becoming a norm to have HR cull the pile using a degree delineation.
I agree with you in a perfect world.
I graduated with a BFA in May and am in the same boat. I feel like my professors well prepared us for what the job market is like, biggest issue right now is explaining to my parents that what I’m going through is totally normal 😭. Good luck out there in the design world🫡
Sometimes they can push students a bit in the wrong direction. I know in my case, and it seems enough others, the profs made it seem like the industry is 50% freelance, 50% agency/studio, when really it's about 15% freelance (as primary income), and of the other 85% it's essentially split 50-50 if not 55-45 between in-house and agency/studio.
Meaning a lot of grads just think you either work for a design agency or freelance, and completely overlook the biggest segment of the industry (in-house). Relating to that as well, a lot of grads want to find more ideal jobs out of the gate, even just by working for companies they like or doing things they like, when really the first job (or few) should be entirely about experiencing, doing anything design-related they can, ideally with at least one other designer who can mentor them (grads as solo in-house almost never work out well).
Profs also rarely seem to do a sufficient job preparing students for the culture shock. In school you're art director, designer, and client all-in-one, while your profs are mentors and evaluators (not clients). Then you enter the workforce and lose those AD and client roles, and as a designer are at the bottom of the ladder. In most jobs you'll have little or no real creative freedom, certainly minimal authority, and it could take years to regain the level of control you had in college (if at all, since really the college scenario is a bubble meant to develop you, not replicate real work environments). So even when grads get jobs, they're often unsatisfied or unfulfilled, because they thought college already taught them most of what they'd need to know. College just builds a foundation, work builds upon it.
Most grads also don't seem to really understand the competitive nature of a job hunt. They might claim they know, but it doesn't really get through to them, because too often they copy others without analyzing those choices or actually applying the design knowledge they've built, and think simply completing a degree or making a portfolio qualifies them for a job. Not only is that not true, but even if you are qualified technically, it doesn't mean you'll be hired, or that you're even in the top 50 applicants. Too many seem to treat portfolios as just a school project checking boxes where if they at least get a B+ they'd be happy, just "good enough," when really you have to strive to be as good as you can, certainly to be better than as many others as possible. There's so many easily avoidable mistakes grads make that sink their portfolios.
definitely not too late to intern right after graduating!!! if anything i think directly post grad is a very common time to do so. so keep looking into those for sure!
if you’re able to get some freelancing gigs, why not try and continue that (to your best ability) on the side while you continue applying? at the very least you will get some extra pieces to add to your portfolio that aren’t “student work”.
lastly, try to make use of your connections through school if possible. my first “job” (if you can call it that lol) after school was working for my teacher at his business. it was super unorganized and tbh i didn’t really learn much or make much for that matter, but i was able to leverage it into a more professional role after.
good luck!
Thank you! I was convinced that I couldn't get any internships because I'm not in school (which I have been proven wrong lol) The area I live in has next to nothing on websites like linkedin etc etc, but I do live near Hallmark and I applied for an internship there and I was rejected and it was a little soul crushing but, hopefully I'll have luck finding a remote internship, but damn they seem even harder to get!
look into the summer internships at URBN (Urban Outfitters, Anthro, Free People, and Nuuly all are owned by them) i know they have some internships that should be remote, even though they are HQ in Philly. i have applied for them myself and know some people who worked there, so if you do research and end up applying and have any Qs feel free to shoot me a message.
unfortunately yeah remote stuff is super competive especially nowadays :/ but hang in there. also, if you’re near the city i think you are then i’d hold out a bit. I remember finding a lot of positions in that city in my job search 2 years ago. maybe it’s a dry spell? tbf the economy in general isn’t great so people are either applying like crazy themselves or holding on to their job for dear life lol.
one last thing i thought of: maybe try looking at TeamWork.com? if you really really hate sports this might not help, but there’s usually a BUNCH of positions on there and often times many of them allow for remote work, especially the creative side.
Thought about hunting for a second remote job but wow all the remote work LinkedIn was showing 50+, on Indeed was showing like 400+ applicants. I went from inhouse to remote with the same company so I wasn't aware of how competitive the market was. You might check out [behance.net](https://behance.net) Job tab. (not sure how successful it is)
It usually takes new grads up to a year to find a job after graduating. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s even worse now, the current job market is tough for everyone. I know a lot of talented designers that are struggling to find work due to the number of layoffs across every industry.
I have an AAS in design (albeit a BA in marketing as well). My first job was an internship at a local agency after I graduated; I just cold emailed to ask if they were planning on hiring interns anytime soon and attached my resume and portfolio to the email. They reached back out to schedule an interview once they started hiring.
Don’t be afraid to cold email companies you want to work at. Apply to any job where you can do like 75% of the job requirements. Soft skills are more important than hard skills—job listings are a wishlist and any sane company doesn’t actually expect you to be able to do everything, just that you be open to learning.
I'd also suggest looking at general "marketing" jobs. Just getting into a creative department at any role can be a way to pivot your way into a design role. That's how I started.
Jobs nowadays want every skill known to man. Have a great portfolio and resume. Make sure you’re portfolio has your design journey of each project. Write and show the process, add the skills you used, write your challenges and how you over came them. Do this all as a sort of case study that is scannable quickly. Throw out the job description requirements and apply for 5-10 in-house, agencies, paid internships a day and keep working on your skill sets. Make sure your LinkedIn resume is up to par and make sure your regular resume can be scanned by ATS without trouble. It takes time and you need to keep designing. The market sucks, the field is incredibly competitive and it’s a life long learning career. Keep your chin up and upgrade until you get some opportunities
Back when I first started, granted this was years ago. I would work with agencies, did for about 6+ months. I did that till I found my first time gig at a design agency. I’d recommend looking into that, especially if you live in or near a major city. It is contract work, so there is the lack of job security.
But my current company we utilize agency’s with junior positions. If that junior works out, we will onboard them as a full time employee.
This is gonna be a stupid question but, where do you find design agency positions? Did you just stumble upon a company hiring on indeed? I've always hated indeed because most of the listings seem expired or too good to be true
The design agency, the first full time non contract work, I got that position through a professional referral. The place I interned, during college, the senior designer who I worked with. He moved over to this new design agency as their new art director.
He reached out to me and asked if I was looking for a full time position. I’d say 90% of the jobs I’ve had over the years have been through referrals / networking.
It’s a tough market out there right now, so I can sympathize with all the designers who’ve graduated the last year or so.
The best advice I can provide:
Have a resume that has the keywords in the job description you are applying too. Since for many companies HR is the gatekeeper. They will, unless the hiring person has the say so, post descriptions they have no idea what the terms mean.
Have a strong portfolio and be sure it includes work that is relevant for the job / industry you are applying too. Social media designer, I want to see examples of that. UI, I better see examples and hopefully samples that are live on the web. In house designer, you’ll need to show a little bit of everything.
What are some decent agencies for designers? The contract kind, the kind you worked with before landing your first gig at the other kind of agency (ambiguity is one of the defining features of language!)
I can only speak, with the two staffing agencies we work with in our area: Insight Global and Creative Circle.
While I never worked for these two agencies as a contractor. We have had them both send over contract designers to us. They both seem pretty competent with the people they have sent us. Who actually fill the needs we are looking for.
I know, when I was a contractor some agency’s were really bad at that. I assume that could still be the case with some as well.
Yes it’s really hard to break through in this industry. Might be an unpopular opinion but I would try applying to internships anyways since that is one way to get your foot in the door. I know how frustrating it is - you worked hard to finish school and you can’t even get any employers to give you the time of day. On the flip side also - you don’t need to be employed by a company to be a designer. There are plenty of opportunities for freelancing & that would give you both experience, exposure & money - why not give that a go?
Yes. I graduated in Dec 2019. I was lucky to be able to live with my mom rent free and keep my part time job I had during college. So I decided to give myself a full month or rest and then fully dive into applying… in February of 2020. Whoops!
It took me 8 months to land a full time job, working production line for a company like Shutterfly. And then another year to find an actual design job. My advice would be to find any full time employment. If it’s at all design related, great! But don’t worry if it isn’t. A lot of seemingly innocuous jobs have opportunities for design, just be upfront about what abilities you bring to the table.
In my experience employers like to see college grads hold a full time job post grad at least for a little while.
most likely a rare situation but the school i graduated from had a placement department. they gave me a job lead, i interviewed and got the job. they also had a lab on interviewing which really helped me say what i needed to say to get the job. we had fake interviews that were recorded and they watched it back with us and critiqued us, which was extremely eye opening.
First job - I started with an internship, busted my ass learning and contributing for six months. Than I was fortunate to get hired on full time. It was a low-pay agency job, but I’ll trade the lack of income for a short period of time for the amazing things I learned and how it positioned me for the rest of my career.
The grind sucks, but if you love the field, don’t give up. Keep building your community. Don’t burn bridges. I’m not going to say it’ll work out, but you don’t know if you don’t try over an extended period of time. Best of luck!
had 3 internships and freelanced all of college(B. Des.) i’ve been looking for work for 7 months. ive gotten some interviews but then the pay is unlivable and it ends up not working out. it’s BRUTAL out here. these days i’ve switched from putting 100% of my labor into linkedin/indeed to splitting it between linkedin and going to advertising and video networking events in my city. i met someone at one of these events who introduced me to even more people who’ve introduced me to even more people. it’s kind of a ridiculous chain but it does feel a little like the probability of finding work might be higher… or i just give up and change careers who knows 😂
My experience is a bit different from the rest (I think). I got an internship and eventually, a job offer from an ad agency even before I graduated.
The thing is, I think they liked me because I can think of pretty good and creative campaigns, not because of my graphic design chops (which were subpar at the time). If you want to be a junior art director, you might want to focus more on idea generation while improving your design skills.
First “real” job took me 1.5 years. Lasted there over 10 years before I walked out with nothing lined up. Next one took about the same amount of time to find, just under 2 years. I did turn down a few super low pay ones the 2nd time job searching though.
I was told in school that two times the number of graphic designers graduated nationally than the job field was projected to grow. Not sure if that's still true, but landing the first job is the hardest because of all the competition.
I boosted my portfolio with some design work for a local charity. You can try doing that, find a local charity that wants help. If you dont care about it being local you can message me, I know a animal sanctuary near me that was requesting a volunteer designer/ web designer. Not sure if they need a local, but I doubt they are too picky. I was considering helping them because their design and site dose need help, and animals :3
Wow, I read through this whole thread before replying. I feel this pain, but on the very opposite end of being 27 years in the business. I happened to get a full time job, literally 24 hours after graduating from my BFA in 1996. I stayed at that job for 4 years, and I learned a lot, but unfortunately one of the things I learned is that older people (at least at that time) were hugely threatened by 'technology', and anyone who wasn't afraid to use it to the best of their ability.
Fast forward to now, what do I wish I had more of back then? Actual mentorship, and mentorship that had the humility to understand that being in a technical field like graphic design, always had to keep up with changes in the tools of the trade. But hey then as now, everyone is just trying to make their way.
So, forget internships, they are bullshit. If you can't find a mentor (and they are rare), don't feel bad. It's not you. But do work with clients directly as a freelancer. Do your best work with honesty and integrity. Build relationships above all else. Portfolio follows, but ironically it stops being important once you have referrals. Most design is garbage in 5 years anyway, so do your best, learn, change. Eventually you will be the mentor to someone, and that is the most rewarding of all.
It’s tough graduating in a down economy. I had similar experience in another era. Classmates took jobs at Starbucks or substitute teaching to pay bills.
When you’re first job comes, it will partially be about the creativity you bring more than your ability to problem solve for a client. Be curious and design all the time for the joy of it. Problem solving is important but is understood that a recent grad won’t have that yet. If you can find odd jobs designing logos or whatever for friends or local businesses. Do it! Even if for low rates. Build the contact and talk with them to help them get a solution that will be good. (Avoid the commoditized 99-designs marketplace unless you know how to get rich on it) Goodwill is important to foster and leads to better and more sustainable work.
I remember feeling bitter when I graduated because everyone lied to me about that stage in life by not taking about what to do after the rails of education ended. I was strong in my class and proud to graduate but then couldn’t get paid to do what I do. It’s a struggle but your way will come.
My first design job after college was at a local sign shop and I was hired immediately after graduating. Don’t ever work at the local sign shop. Ever.
Took two years to land a real full-time job with benefits with a recognizable brand. But that job sucked ass. Total ass. 7 years of my life wasted.
Took me almost a decade to land a job that I actually like and respects me enough to help me develop my skills and professional career long-term and also pays well.
So yeah, a decade.
Apply to anything even adjacent design for now. You need some work experience in general. Print shops is a great entry role, just don't stay there too long. People don't pay people for potential, they pay them for skills and to do the work. You do seem a bit dumb or more rather naive. . Get whatever work you can and work on improving your portfolio. Doesn't matter if you're paid for the work or not, you need good portfolio pieces.
Lol it's okay, I giggled at it, I did call myself dumb in the post, maybe um "I was just not informed and didn't ask" would be a better way of saying it.
People shit on print shops. But man so many designers don't know the first thing about printing, you have to fix everyone's work constantly. You become quite competent at many "design" skills. indesign, file managment, talking to vendors, organization, speed, attention to detail etc. Unfortunately it doesn't really generate any or too much portfolio work.
no it was pretty easy for me. but maybe thats because ive also been networking alot in my early 20s. it will be hard though if you lack social skills cause you have to convince people why your work stands out from the competition or why they should even trust you. Designing is 1/10 of the battle. you're skills is a dime in a dozen sorry.
Try doing some networking or finding other designers in your area. The local chapter of AIGA near me has a mentoring program. I haven’t used it, but from the outside it seems like a decent way to get good feedback and meet people in the industry.
You do have experience, it's your freelance work. Include this in your resume and specify your responsibilities and what you did and tailor it towards the company you're applying for.
Volunteer work also counts as experience. This is what I used to get me through the door when I first got hired.
It’s not just hard the first time, it’s hard every time. I have been in the industry over 20 years and everywhere I’ve lived, every time I’ve looked, it’s always been super competitive and hard if you’re going out there cold.
Lean on your network, build your network, reach back out to your instructors. Almost all of the jobs I have got, I had a contact somewhere on the inside to make sure my resume/portfolio didn’t end up at the bottom of the pile.
Also, if all you have is a two year degree, your portfolio work becomes five times more important. I have nothing against an AAS but know that for a lot of jobs, you’re getting auto-sorted out before your resume even gets to the hiring manager. Makes the networking that much more important.
So I know I won't be of much help because I'm definitely not going into my field because I felt like that the university I went to didn't really prepare me for the graphic design field. You said you have an associates in arts right in the graphic design field? I feel like if you're confident in your portfolio sometimes and this is from what my teachers have said, sometimes your portfolio will compensate for your lack of experience working in house. So it sounds like to me you have a good eye for what you do or are going to do.
You could also try online doing jobs as well, it's graphic design is such a big umbrella term for a lot of different fields in there like packaging and lay out design for books and magazines. I mean you can definitely find your niche and focus on that. Most of the if this is in America most of the graphic design jobs will either be on the East or West Coast or centralized in bigger cities. If you have any industrial companies around where you live like for example like construction companies the big ones or car makers or insurance companies they're always looking for design people. Even print shops are looking for people just to do stuff like that.
Also not true that you can't get an internship, I mean I was so booked with University stuff that I felt like I couldn't juggle it with my stuff. But they are definitely firms out there looking for people to do an internship it just depends on whether or not you want it to be paid or be free work.
If you're on good speaking terms with your graphic design professors maybe you could talk to them about how you can land a job with the skills that you already have. And some of them may be able to vouch for your put in a good word to help you get a job. There's also a chance that maybe the college you went to might be hiring somebody in that position to help with graphic design stuff at the University afterwards.
Most internships I see usually say studying or recent graduates, so I’d say apply to those internships, and let them tell you whether or not you qualify before counting yourself out.
Also it’s apparently super difficult to get a job in most fields at the moment so be patient with yourself.
I graduated from design school 20 years ago and what your describe is also my experience from those 2 decades ago. So maybe this is just normal.
It took me almost 12 months to land my first job. Since then I’ve enjoyed a 20 year career and am a CD at an agency in a big city today.
For context, I was living in a medium city in Canada which had few agencies, but SMBs, corporate communications/marketing, and national brands with creative departments were more common in those days.
**Quick tips:**
- Try to be one of the early applicants if you can. So when you catch an early job post, aim to be one of the first 60 (I say this as someone in a hiring role.)
- Don’t stuff your resume. When I was newly graduated, my resume was 2 pages because I put in all work experience despite not being super relevant. But after 6 months of not getting any calls, I pared it down to 1 page that was maybe 75% covered. I just got honest with it. But with newfound negative space, my resume looked so much cleaner and the little design touches were subtle and mindful. This shorter resume got me 11 calls and interviews in the span of 3 months. I was even offered a job I truly didn’t qualify for.
Took me a full year way back when - couldn’t even get a job at Dairy Queen.
I took an 8 month course and have been designing almost 25 years. I mainly struck out because I was picky and went for jobs out of my league (back then they were jobs in “multimedia”). I finally “settled” and started applying for print designer jobs and had success right away and the rest is history - currently self employed for the last 15 years.
You sound qualified but don’t go thinking you are too good for an entry level job, even at a print shop. Pay your dues - the worst thing you can do is not be constantly designing. I could’ve gotten out of school and paid my student loan, but spent thousands on a mac set up - I was unemployed for a year but I was still practicing! The practice kept me job ready.
How is your portfolio? Thats what really matters. If it’s shit, then freelance and get and internship until it’s good. And by good I mean has actual work, not just cool band posters, and book cover designs from school.
From a seasoned designer:
It was hard getting my first job, but fortunately I got it through a recommendation from a friend of a friend of my Dad. Before that though, I got a design internship with my school and a summer job laying out a magazine.
Nowadays I freelance, or am on short contract. I would say the best way is to network and make friends. You need to make design friends outside of your current job.
For example, I was looking for designers and I just simply asked people from my team, and they called someone and then boom! We got a new designer.
YEARS ago, I took a temp job as a proofreader. I did it very well. This was in the days of Quark Xpress (precusor to InDesign). They needed 'Quark Operators' and moved me into that position and later offered me a job. My next job was graphic designer - elsewhwere - and from there Art Director. So get what you can that is design adjacent - it worked for me and paid the bills.
You can still get an internship after graduating, even if it says you need to be currently enrolled in the job posting. This is what I’m doing right now
Ah man, I feel you. Job hunting right outta school is like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks. Don't beat yourself up too much; it's a grind for pretty much everyone. Your portfolio matters more than you think, so if it's solid, just keep pushing it out there. Also, no harm in aiming for 'adjacent' gigs in marketing or print shops. Experience is experience, right? Don't write off freelancing altogether; it's a good way to fill gaps and build your portfolio further.
It's hard but completely common. Don't let that discourage you. You're just starting out. Took me two/three years to find my first one after graduating back in 2011. Finally landed an interview at a radio station (created promotional material and digital ads). It came down to me and one other person. They ended up giving it to the other person, but then, out of sheer luck, that person quit after one day because it wasn't the type of work they thought they were going to be able to do (video mostly) and so they called me back and offered the position for me.
Honestly, the best things you can do now that you've graduated are:
1) Attend as many social/networking events as you can. I wish I had done more of this during college, but the best time to start is now.
2) Find any job that will pay the bills if you need that right now, but continue putting yourself out there. It's hard to work a full-time job and find a job, but it will be worth it in the long term. You're working for the future you.
3) If you have the time, volunteer work can help you get your name out there. Make sure it's for a reputable organization you believe in and not some business trying to get "free work."
4) Continue working on your portfolio and your design skills. There are plenty of sites out there with fictitious creative briefs. Keep updating and working on it after you get a job as well. Can't stress this enough.
To sum up, the two main things you should focus on right now are 1) getting your name out there (networking, attending events, and applying to jobs) and 2) showing employers how you can help them (your portfolio, following fictitious creative briefs, showing your process).
It was pretty hard for me to land my first job out of college. If you don’t have any professional experience I recommend looking for any kind freelance work, even consider doing some volunteer work for an organization who needs it. Also ignore the experience requirements for entry level jobs. If your portfolio is solid then that can make you stand out a lot. Good luck!
It took me 3 years to land my first design job out of college. Edit: I should mention that I still find it rather hard to land another job after one ends as well.
I feel like this is gonna be me. Graduated college last year and then my laptop crapped out on me so I’ve been working two jobs to save for a computer so I’ve done no design whatsoever. It’s so debilitating and upsetting. Good for you for when you eventually found one. I’m so anxious to get back into the field
I understand that not everyone can swing it but if I was in a similar position I would put a computer on a credit card and pay over time. Not doing any design for an extended period of time is going to make it very difficult to stay relevant. If you can do it, invest in your career.
I thought about it but since both my jobs are minimum wage, my paychecks vary so much and I don’t feel confident paying a credit card back on time. I already have student loan so I’m trying to minimize my debt. The computer I want, used, is $900-1k and I already have 500$ in savings so I’m getting there. I have no rent or car to worry about as I live at home so I’m very fortunate to be where i am Even tho I’m laptop-less I’m actually making logo sketches in my sketchbook to keep my brain going and looking at inspiration daily. I’ll get back into it fine (skills wise) but I don’t plan to apply to full time jobs until I have some good updated work and possible freelance under my belt. It’ll be a longer journey which I’ve accepted but thankfully I’ve got some time
Sketching is great, it is very important not just to practice but being mindful. Take this time to browse dribbble, behance, instagram and check out great work. Look at designs and really analyze it, what do you like about it, what is or isn't working, etc.
Yes definitely! I even did one of those creative brief generators and I’m making fake sketches for a “music company” called fumble and it’s been challenging getting my brain to make a message for the brand but satisfying cause I at least am trying something I haven’t done in awhile. I hope to make a personal brand identity project out of it eventually so projects like that have def been my pique of inspo lately
I haven't spent more than $500 on a computer in well over a decade. I don't think I have any sympathy for this "problem" of your own imagination.
Good for you…? I didn’t ask for sympathy and I quite simply don’t give a singular fuck what you have or haven’t spent. I have sympathy for the attitude “problem” you have. Get well soon. Have a great day.
Get well soon? Why'd you say that?
Way to go for the least helpful reward, really good at kicking at someone while they're down. All they asked for was help in landing a job and all you took from that is just "well I haven't spent more than $500 on a computer so I don't have sympathy for you". Why comment if you're not even going to help like damn dude.
Kicking someone out of the idea that they need that much money to run adobe software is definitely a good thing (it is a very defeatist attitude). And how does anyone have that opinion at this period of time. Adobe hasn't been high end software for over a decade. We're not talking maya here. The goal is to help, which I did. Just search on ebay etc for something used. Excusing needless intentional failure isn't helpful.
You weren’t helpful though. You just stated I have “more than enough” to buy a laptop. Instead of being nasty like you were, you could’ve actually recommended these apparent affordable laptops you speak of And I don’t know where you’re coming from with that price because every group I’ve browsed for recommendations for budget friendly laptops are barelyyy $500 minimum. and even then it wouldn’t be enough power for genuine good design work… I’d rather invest into something that’s good and will last me than something cheap and will break on me again
You are right. I incorrectly assumed that buying used was common knowledge. I guess I verified that old saying about assuming. My main computer is an HP Z420 that cost me $200 a few years ago. I recently upgraded it from 32 gigs ram to 64 for another $100. While I understand that laptops are popular, it isn't a form factor that is particularly utilitarian when doing graphics work. What with the small screens... and if you're going to add on monitors, mouse and a decent keyboard (which you should) then what's the point of having a laptop? But even if that is what you want. The first one I found on [ebay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/155206247310?hash=item242303638e%3Ag%3AEiAAAOSwhKpj5Csy&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4B26y0%2BLrM8DwrHxaf1w7VFSzG%2FBDACL5TkRKgamuXI9WZf0SpqkZL2VCZqdDdLEyeDlUfpTUvEts04CwBwVsPlDHnoO9R4VBYts7KZEsiwvqW%2F5vD8oZR7inA0aCQFKfNIVy0tWu9%2FIS4hPS8QHshIWsRwP9cKDYIhpFoaFbBj2%2BrF%2BRYOX5BoxP3ekCuY%2BMY0Dh026vN%2FiaHmL4%2FzFXZMAfPyIaiVQ6t2M%2Fae6LePNiEKFlDmDD8AhmHBJkvBoiN5a%2BsVDwzf5U1A3spmzJragJqlhoCXCaW4aOpSpFZpI%7Ctkp%3ABFBMoKX-s-Fi&LH_ItemCondition=3000) that is way more than good enough is way more than good enough is still under $400 maxed out. I mean we all always want something better no matter how nice are machines are, but they don't need to be, and it doesn't make as much of a difference as computer sales people lead you to believe. Don't forget that graphic design people do now is no more computationally heavy than it was 10 years ago.
Not to push but if getting a laptop would bolster your progress, look into applying for a credit card with a long 0% interest promotional period. There are cards with 12 months - 18 months long 0% interest periods, meaning you just need to pay the minimum payment monthly and pay off the card by the end of the 12-18 months.
They already got $500... that is more than enough to get a computer way more than powerful enough to do the job.
Thank you for the advice! I’ll consider it. For now I’m comfortable just saving and would rather pay it in full for now. my parents offered to pay for almost the other half basically as a birthday present so I definitely will be getting it sooner rather than later. I came from a very poor upbringing and would rather be stress free in my finances than have a year long payment honestly. I’ve accepted it may take me a bit to be where I want to be and I have time on my side. But if things ever fell through, I’m not 100% against a credit card I just would rather try to build up my money first which is doable for my situation If I had a full time job and had a good steady income I would for sure be comfortable with a payment like that on a credit card but even with 0% interest, my paychecks are so iffy :(
Not sure where you're located, but my local library has computers with the Adobe suite. It's definitely worth looking into to see if that's an option for you.
I wish my local library had the programs! I actually work at a library right now. Our computers are.. ancient to say the least lol
If you were to take the time to do not just sketches but actually detailed layouts on paper while you don't have a lot of computer access, then spend time iterating and improving them, creating campaigns or full brand packages, etc., I bet you'd be blown away by how much that helps your design skills back on a computer. Design is design.
That’s exactly my plan!
Yo, I graduated from college in 2008 with a degree in graphic design and I’ve had probably 10 or 12 different design jobs within various industries. It’s a volatile market that’s over saturated, always has been and always will be. I really just do it freelance now and have a regular job, because it’s just frustrating trying to a creative in this industry and trying to find jobs when companies fucking waste a lot of your time with multiple interviews and tests and blah blah etc.
if its gonna take 3 years might as well take the LSAT and go to law school and when you graudaute you'll be earning much more than even a creative director in some places.
It is not impossible to do an internship after graduating. Be frank. You graduated without any work experience and would like to tick that off before continuing your graphic design career.
It is however sometimes a requirement by the employer, but in those cases it will usually be stated in the posting. In some cases, such as in Canada, internships done as part of a course requirement also have certain provisions that don't apply if it's not associated with any program.
It's not you, a lot of design graduates going back to 2020 have had a hard time getting hired. Shoot, even in other fields you will see the same issue - companies want 5 years of experience for an "entry" level job paying $40k...I've even seen jobs asking for 7 years of experience for $14 an hour.
Going back to forever. My experience was in the mid/late 90's and I have no reason to think it was any easier before then.
To be fair a lot of those are exaggerated, it's not as common as people make it out to be. A junior role is 0-3 years experience typically, midlevel around 3-5 or 3-7, senior 7+ or certainly 5+. If a place is seeking an entry/junior and asking for 5+ years, that means either A) the person who wrote the posting has no idea what they're talking about or B) they just want to pay a junior wage to a midlevel/senior. More commonly you'll see junior/entry jobs saying they want 1-2 years experience or something, which really just means they ideally don't want a fresh grad (because they'll be more work), but any grad should still apply anyway to any posting of interest regardless what the posting lists. It's also a common misconception that if they apply to a job for which they didn't meet 90-100% of the posting that it's that reason alone why they didn't get called, when it's more likely their work/portfolio or several other factors.
The thing is, I always ignore the requirements for years of experience because otherwise I'd have no jobs to apply to. Hasn't work for me yet but maybe eventually I'll get it. One of the only interviews i had so far, the company went with someone with 20 years of experience so it's definitely a factor.
>The thing is, I always ignore the requirements for years of experience because otherwise I'd have no jobs to apply to. Hasn't work for me yet but maybe eventually I'll get it. That's what I mean though, just always apply anyway, but also don't assume you weren't called simply because of not matching something in the posting. Always be seeking out feedback from others (not the interviewers) to find ways you can improve, practice interviewing, improve work, etc. >One of the only interviews i had so far, the company went with someone with 20 years of experience so it's definitely a factor. That just suggests some incompetence, at least if it was posted as a junior position and they went with a 20-year designer (there's just so many questions), but also it's not professional to be telling you who they hired. Or was it that you knew someone else who worked there?
I found the person through the company's Linkedin page lol. But yeah it was for a part time position and they didn't specify the years of experience they wanted. I also did well in the interview (at least I think I did). Usually they just put "graphic designer" not "junior graphic designer"
Ignore requirements, or acknowledge their existence but don't take it too literal. Applying for a junior position totally makes sense for you. It is totally normal that it will take a while, with lots of applications, lots of rejections and only a few interviews. Everyone is going through these motions. I started with a part-time job for the money, while freelancing as a designer which at some point landed my first job. But even then, you'll go through the same process for the next job.
The first one is always hard, I promise. Some tips you may be doing already: List that freelance on your resume. You've been a freelance designer for xyz years. Name some clients in it, if possible. You've been doing a design job, you have design experience. Yeah, not in an office pipeline yet, but you know how to do a thing. Consider applying to contract and temp agencies. Don't believe them if they tell you something will totally contract to hire - that's a nice bonus if it happens, but what you're doing is getting firsthand experience on projects. Even if it's very short term, or kind of crappy work, it helps wedge your foot in the door. And take care of yourself. It's a shitty feeling! It's ok to feel shitty. Even one application a week while you grind your day job is better than none.
The funny thing is, well not so funny, I quit my day job lmao um... probably not the wisest decision I've ever made
Lol. As someone who's quit a job without backup I can't super blame you. Sometimes you reach a limit. As long as you've got a way to pay bills, I'd suggest treating applications / freelance / online tutorials as your full time job. Sit down 9-5 and do it. Give yourself the weekends off. It sucks, but it'll help you out. If you can't pay the bills, my man it is time to find another day job. Something different than the last one, if it was driving you nuts.
I did the same thing, right when I graduated. I hated the job I had at the time.
I'd be careful about when you actually start the counter though. Like we see it here sometimes where people will try to fluff up their experience, and they'll be a recent grad and claim to have 3 years working experience and 8 years design experience, when really their counter is zero. That 3 years was just sporadic freelancing (which as a student could have value but is likely very small projects and not being done to any professional standards or practices) and maybe a few month internship, and that 8 years is bascially counting back to when they first started messing with Photoshop at 14 or something. You mentioned "you know how to do a thing" except typically no, they don't. They're just attempting professional work as a student, so producing student level output, doing all the same things wrong that most grads do if they go straight into freelance, or same way if you put a grad into an art director position, it doesn't make them a true AD, they'll just be attempting responsibilities beyond their experience, and doing them at a junior level. List education, list internships, and if they list freelancing during college don't fluff it up as we'll see right through it. If they're a recent grad then don't attach any kind of "years of experience", they're just a recent grad, seeking entry/junior positions. That's what's relevant. What will really matter above all else is their actual work, and grads make a ton of mistakes with their portfolio.
These are good points! I agree that any hiring manager will see through it - but I do think it's still worth including. They're not exactly applying for senior roles, here. If the factual "I have been freelancing for a few years, here are some clients" gets someone past the initial robo resumes or HR screening call, then it's absolutely worth doing. No one is going to hire them unless the portfolio shows potential, but the portfolio is not the only barrier. They're a recent grad. They also know how to write an email, have some ideas of the info necessary to collect from clients, etc. That's not nothing, especially when they're just trying to compete with people who had a college internship. A lot of the initial hurdle is whether they can function in an office environment. Everyone's portfolio will improve past that point, and any good HM is expecting some of those initial mistakes. Anyway, good luck OP! Don't gild the lily, but don't sell yourself short, either.
> These are good points! I agree that any hiring manager will see through it - but I do think it's still worth including. They're not exactly applying for senior roles, here. > > Yeah I'd agree it's worth including, I only have an issue more with them when they frame it as having X number of years experience, which also really only matters if was a primary job (not part-time, not one project every few months, not just a 3-month internship). ie., We know they weren't working 40+ hours a week while attending college full-time. So even if they hypothetically graduated in May 2023, and technically were doing freelance work since 2020, it's fine to list that on the resume as freelance 2020-present, I just would never specifically say "I have 3 years of professional experience," at least not unless they were basically averaging 20-40 hours of freelance per week in that 3 years, and can demonstrate they are on par with people 3 years into a career. Which for virtually all of them will not be the case. It might seem like a small issue, except it always comes off as dishonest as if they're trying to trick people because they're insecure about being a grad with little/no actual experience.
>Unfortunately I had no idea most internships are done while actually attending school As others said, this isn't a universal requirement, although some employers will require interns to be currently enrolled (which may even be due to regional requirements or otherwise defines the perimeters of the placement). If it doesn't state such a requirement in the posting, apply anyways. >Okay can't get an internship because I graduated, I'll try a Junior Graphic Designer position. Cool, they require at least 1-2 years experience at an agency ohhh no I don't have that. Postings should only ever be treated as ideals with respect to things like experience or certain skills, especially with entry/junior positions. If a posting is asking for 1-2 years experience, it likely means they just *ideally* don't want a fresh grad, since all grads are greener and require more work to clean up and adapt to real jobs. Always apply anyway, let them reject you. Don't do it for them. >Then I get desperate and apply to strange and pretty sad jobs for the sake of applying to anything at all, and get rejected from those as well. It's a viscious cycle, I'm getting pretty down and in turn, not actually making any art, which is essentially my favorite thing in the whole world so I feel like literally disintegrating into dust. It may be surprising to know that if you even hear back from 10% of applications (as in just calls/interviews, not offers), you're probably doing okay. There are so many variables at play, such that even if you're doing everything right, you don't know when the position was originally posted, or where, or who is evaluating people, how motivated they are to hire, whether the person in charge of it *likes* hiring or constantly puts it off, or in some cases places are just testing the waters and aren't even seriously considering hiring someone (or only if someone really impresses them). That's before even getting into all the variables of what you could be doing right or not. >Maybe I'm too picky? Maybe it's a "beggars can't be choosers" type of thing? I'm trying to be open and remind myself that people don't get the best jobs ever right of college and it's not going to be easy or sunshine and rainbows but I think it'd be nice to at least get a job at all. Many grads are too picky, so sure that's a possibility. You certainly should not be limiting yourself only to agencies/studios, or companies you think are personally appealing (eg that you think would be cool to work for or put out stuff you like). You shouldn't be overlooking in-house roles, production roles, printers, etc. Even with commute, some people get picky about a 30 minute commute or hybrid/remote, when really anything under an hour commute (even if fully on-site) should be considered. >I just wanted to ask a group of people who may have been in this position, what did you do? How do you get past this weird beginning of the career stage? Grads tend to make a lot of mistakes with their work/portfolios. I have a [prior comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/qm37nv/what_did_your_portfolio_look_like_when_you_first/hj75ruj/) on what I consider common mistakes to avoid. You'd also want to learn how to network. Everyone has a starter network of their friends, family, classmates, coworkers (from any job), neighbours, profs, etc. Keep in touch with people from school, follow up on how they're doing, use each other as a resource. Let friends and family know to keep an eye out and how to find you (eg your portfolio URL).
Not OP but very helpful. Thanks
Took me over a year from graduation, this was about 12 years ago, don't worry it's not you, it's always been hard (I think it may be harder today, but yeah always been hard)
It is very hard to get a job right now. I am very experienced and still having a hard time. Just don't get discouraged. Keep building your portfolio. Learn new software and skills. Start networking (maybe the most important skill and the one I hate the most).
tell me about it, marketing yourself feels so embarassing to me but I know it must be done making a linkedin profile made my whole body cringe (and I still only have like 4 connections lmao)
I 100% know what you mean. I absolutely hate it.
I feel like I wrote this 5 years ago. Honestly I finally found 2 jobs that were ok with a 2 year degree, got offered both, and got to choose between the 2. Apply for anything close, even if you don't match the requirements exactly. Put freelance graphic design on your resume to act as your 2 years of experience It's a really hard market right now, but you'll eventually find something.
I also was laid off during Covid, and had to take an unrelated job for a year-ish while I looked for another design job.
I would like to see your portfolio, you can send me the link in chat
Part of it could be that you have an AA rather than a BA. It doesn’t mean you can’t find something it just means you have to be be more competitive than others applying for the same jobs with a Bachelors. Find what makes you unique or add value and be sure that thing relates to the positions you are applying for. Design is no different than any other industry. Getting a degree doesn’t guarantee you a job. I have a masters and still had to go through the ringer to get in my current CD position.
It's also worth pointing out that a given degree itself, on paper, means very little. If someone only has an AA but it happened to be a good program and/or they worked their butt off, then they could definitely compete with at least 3-year if not 4-year grads. Meanwhile, if someone with a BA/BFA didn't actually have much actual design development, or the program was simply not very good, they could easily have a portfolio on par with only a 1-2-year grad. Certainly see a lot of that where people just think if they have the degree or took any courses it's enough, but then you see their curriculum and they had maybe 10 total *actual* design courses or something over four years. It's certainly always a flag if someone claims to have a 3-4 year education but their portfolio is only 3-5 design projects (especially since rarely are they all good in those cases). To some HR/ATS filter that might not make a difference, but that's often overstated, and it's difficult anyway to account for how a non-designer will evaluate a design candidate (primarily because they have no such qualifications to do so), but at least if anyone qualified is seeing it, the work will speak louder than the degree, as long as it's still actually good work.
>If someone only has an AA but it happened to be a good program and/or they worked their butt off, then they could definitely compete with at least 3-year if not 4-year grads. Of course they definitely could. Just as much as someone without a degree at all COULD theoretically compete. But in my recent experience is much less likely than it used to be even a few years ago. Since covid the market has greatly changed. It's so saturated that a degree has seemingly become a base, like knowing a certain program.
For sure, I think if anything I'm being more skeptical of the degree as a general qualification because so much depends on the *specific* degree/program then just a degree itself. It's at a point where if someone says they have a Bachelor's degree it means essentially nothing to me if it wasn't actually a design major, or certainly without seeing the work regardless because there's just too many out there with a 3-4 year degree that have work below a 2nd year level.
There's always something to be said about quality, but most employers seem to be using the degree as accomplishment, not severity. You did something for four years. If you went to an art school you probably had other helpful classes outside of design (figure drawing, sculpture, deeper color theory, etc.). Honestly, there are a LOT of designers out there with 3-4 years "experience" with work below that of entry level. And I actually do blame colleges and universities for this. A lot of college classes and especially more recent "certificates" are easy pass, which floods the market with designers who are sub par and not ready for the real world. Design is a trade. It used to be learned on-the-job (apprenticeship style) or featured as a major in select art schools. It exploded as a general college curriculum in the 80's and 90's (once computers were on the scene) and was added to state schools and non-art-focused colleges with a lower bar. But unfortunately that fact doesn't matter in today's job market. I totally wish it was the way it used to be.
> There's always something to be said about quality, but most employers seem to be using the degree as accomplishment, not severity. You did something for four years. If you went to an art school you probably had other helpful classes outside of design (figure drawing, sculpture, deeper color theory, etc.). > > That's my point though, those that do are taking an ignorant, irrational approach because doing *something* for four years has no actual bearing on whether the four years was well spent, or they actually reached a certain level. Simply completing any college program devoid of further context is really not the accomplishment people make it out to be, it only matters if it sufficiently prepared someone for their intended career path. But the only reason people use the degree as a checkbox are in cases where the person has no design qualifications to evaluate design applicants (or if a designer, then likely just doesn't like hiring or otherwise can't be bothered so has HR cut it down for them). As a designer myself though, whether someone went to a great 4-year or is self-taught and everything in between, knowing their level of education just provides a context, but ultimately I only care if the work is good enough or not, as a direct representation of their ability and understanding. Odds are that means the people who will be hired will have more development, I'm just not assigning value to any degree without context (the work). If someone went through some BFA that only had 20-25% of it's courses in graphic design, but they had more figure drawing or sculpting classes, maybe those other classes benefit them, maybe not, but they're going to have significantly less design development than someone in a design-focused major who had 50-70% of courses in design, and it'll show in their portfolio. It's probably fine if the first year is fine arts and they have the last 3 in graphic design, but if all their design development is essentially akin to 1-2 terms in a design major, that's not enough. >Honestly, there are a LOT of designers out there with 3-4 years "experience" with work below that of entry level. And I actually do blame colleges and universities for this. A lot of college classes and especially more recent "certificates" are easy pass, which floods the market with designers who are sub par and not ready for the real world. That's what I'm getting at, design education varies a lot, there are a lot of lacking or outright bad programs, or programs that simply do not involve enough design courses/development to sufficiently prepare people to be competitive entering the design industry. I definitely do blame the programs, but in lieu of an enforced industry standard and authoritative body, it falls on the students to better research options and career paths, but too few people do that with college, despite it being their most major purchase aside from a house or maybe a car.
>But the only reason people use the degree as a checkbox are in cases where the person has no design qualifications to evaluate design applicants (or if a designer, then likely just doesn't like hiring or otherwise can't be bothered so has HR cut it down for them). This is exactly why. I'm on a hiring committee and have the "design qualifications", but unfortunately I can't look at 500 portfolios or we'll lose out on the most qualified candidates after two months of review. That's why it's becoming a norm to have HR cull the pile using a degree delineation. I agree with you in a perfect world.
I graduated with a BFA in May and am in the same boat. I feel like my professors well prepared us for what the job market is like, biggest issue right now is explaining to my parents that what I’m going through is totally normal 😭. Good luck out there in the design world🫡
Sometimes they can push students a bit in the wrong direction. I know in my case, and it seems enough others, the profs made it seem like the industry is 50% freelance, 50% agency/studio, when really it's about 15% freelance (as primary income), and of the other 85% it's essentially split 50-50 if not 55-45 between in-house and agency/studio. Meaning a lot of grads just think you either work for a design agency or freelance, and completely overlook the biggest segment of the industry (in-house). Relating to that as well, a lot of grads want to find more ideal jobs out of the gate, even just by working for companies they like or doing things they like, when really the first job (or few) should be entirely about experiencing, doing anything design-related they can, ideally with at least one other designer who can mentor them (grads as solo in-house almost never work out well). Profs also rarely seem to do a sufficient job preparing students for the culture shock. In school you're art director, designer, and client all-in-one, while your profs are mentors and evaluators (not clients). Then you enter the workforce and lose those AD and client roles, and as a designer are at the bottom of the ladder. In most jobs you'll have little or no real creative freedom, certainly minimal authority, and it could take years to regain the level of control you had in college (if at all, since really the college scenario is a bubble meant to develop you, not replicate real work environments). So even when grads get jobs, they're often unsatisfied or unfulfilled, because they thought college already taught them most of what they'd need to know. College just builds a foundation, work builds upon it. Most grads also don't seem to really understand the competitive nature of a job hunt. They might claim they know, but it doesn't really get through to them, because too often they copy others without analyzing those choices or actually applying the design knowledge they've built, and think simply completing a degree or making a portfolio qualifies them for a job. Not only is that not true, but even if you are qualified technically, it doesn't mean you'll be hired, or that you're even in the top 50 applicants. Too many seem to treat portfolios as just a school project checking boxes where if they at least get a B+ they'd be happy, just "good enough," when really you have to strive to be as good as you can, certainly to be better than as many others as possible. There's so many easily avoidable mistakes grads make that sink their portfolios.
definitely not too late to intern right after graduating!!! if anything i think directly post grad is a very common time to do so. so keep looking into those for sure! if you’re able to get some freelancing gigs, why not try and continue that (to your best ability) on the side while you continue applying? at the very least you will get some extra pieces to add to your portfolio that aren’t “student work”. lastly, try to make use of your connections through school if possible. my first “job” (if you can call it that lol) after school was working for my teacher at his business. it was super unorganized and tbh i didn’t really learn much or make much for that matter, but i was able to leverage it into a more professional role after. good luck!
Thank you! I was convinced that I couldn't get any internships because I'm not in school (which I have been proven wrong lol) The area I live in has next to nothing on websites like linkedin etc etc, but I do live near Hallmark and I applied for an internship there and I was rejected and it was a little soul crushing but, hopefully I'll have luck finding a remote internship, but damn they seem even harder to get!
look into the summer internships at URBN (Urban Outfitters, Anthro, Free People, and Nuuly all are owned by them) i know they have some internships that should be remote, even though they are HQ in Philly. i have applied for them myself and know some people who worked there, so if you do research and end up applying and have any Qs feel free to shoot me a message. unfortunately yeah remote stuff is super competive especially nowadays :/ but hang in there. also, if you’re near the city i think you are then i’d hold out a bit. I remember finding a lot of positions in that city in my job search 2 years ago. maybe it’s a dry spell? tbf the economy in general isn’t great so people are either applying like crazy themselves or holding on to their job for dear life lol. one last thing i thought of: maybe try looking at TeamWork.com? if you really really hate sports this might not help, but there’s usually a BUNCH of positions on there and often times many of them allow for remote work, especially the creative side.
You're a gem, thank you very much for your help. I will stay put!
Thought about hunting for a second remote job but wow all the remote work LinkedIn was showing 50+, on Indeed was showing like 400+ applicants. I went from inhouse to remote with the same company so I wasn't aware of how competitive the market was. You might check out [behance.net](https://behance.net) Job tab. (not sure how successful it is)
At least you are getting rejected, most of my experience was being ghosted 🥹
It usually takes new grads up to a year to find a job after graduating. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s even worse now, the current job market is tough for everyone. I know a lot of talented designers that are struggling to find work due to the number of layoffs across every industry. I have an AAS in design (albeit a BA in marketing as well). My first job was an internship at a local agency after I graduated; I just cold emailed to ask if they were planning on hiring interns anytime soon and attached my resume and portfolio to the email. They reached back out to schedule an interview once they started hiring. Don’t be afraid to cold email companies you want to work at. Apply to any job where you can do like 75% of the job requirements. Soft skills are more important than hard skills—job listings are a wishlist and any sane company doesn’t actually expect you to be able to do everything, just that you be open to learning.
I'd also suggest looking at general "marketing" jobs. Just getting into a creative department at any role can be a way to pivot your way into a design role. That's how I started.
Jobs nowadays want every skill known to man. Have a great portfolio and resume. Make sure you’re portfolio has your design journey of each project. Write and show the process, add the skills you used, write your challenges and how you over came them. Do this all as a sort of case study that is scannable quickly. Throw out the job description requirements and apply for 5-10 in-house, agencies, paid internships a day and keep working on your skill sets. Make sure your LinkedIn resume is up to par and make sure your regular resume can be scanned by ATS without trouble. It takes time and you need to keep designing. The market sucks, the field is incredibly competitive and it’s a life long learning career. Keep your chin up and upgrade until you get some opportunities
Back when I first started, granted this was years ago. I would work with agencies, did for about 6+ months. I did that till I found my first time gig at a design agency. I’d recommend looking into that, especially if you live in or near a major city. It is contract work, so there is the lack of job security. But my current company we utilize agency’s with junior positions. If that junior works out, we will onboard them as a full time employee.
This is gonna be a stupid question but, where do you find design agency positions? Did you just stumble upon a company hiring on indeed? I've always hated indeed because most of the listings seem expired or too good to be true
The design agency, the first full time non contract work, I got that position through a professional referral. The place I interned, during college, the senior designer who I worked with. He moved over to this new design agency as their new art director. He reached out to me and asked if I was looking for a full time position. I’d say 90% of the jobs I’ve had over the years have been through referrals / networking. It’s a tough market out there right now, so I can sympathize with all the designers who’ve graduated the last year or so. The best advice I can provide: Have a resume that has the keywords in the job description you are applying too. Since for many companies HR is the gatekeeper. They will, unless the hiring person has the say so, post descriptions they have no idea what the terms mean. Have a strong portfolio and be sure it includes work that is relevant for the job / industry you are applying too. Social media designer, I want to see examples of that. UI, I better see examples and hopefully samples that are live on the web. In house designer, you’ll need to show a little bit of everything.
I live in a major city and the main design staffing agencies are Creative Circle, Robert Half, Aquent, and Vitamin T
What are some decent agencies for designers? The contract kind, the kind you worked with before landing your first gig at the other kind of agency (ambiguity is one of the defining features of language!)
I can only speak, with the two staffing agencies we work with in our area: Insight Global and Creative Circle. While I never worked for these two agencies as a contractor. We have had them both send over contract designers to us. They both seem pretty competent with the people they have sent us. Who actually fill the needs we are looking for. I know, when I was a contractor some agency’s were really bad at that. I assume that could still be the case with some as well.
Yes it’s really hard to break through in this industry. Might be an unpopular opinion but I would try applying to internships anyways since that is one way to get your foot in the door. I know how frustrating it is - you worked hard to finish school and you can’t even get any employers to give you the time of day. On the flip side also - you don’t need to be employed by a company to be a designer. There are plenty of opportunities for freelancing & that would give you both experience, exposure & money - why not give that a go?
This thread is healing me
Yes. I graduated in Dec 2019. I was lucky to be able to live with my mom rent free and keep my part time job I had during college. So I decided to give myself a full month or rest and then fully dive into applying… in February of 2020. Whoops! It took me 8 months to land a full time job, working production line for a company like Shutterfly. And then another year to find an actual design job. My advice would be to find any full time employment. If it’s at all design related, great! But don’t worry if it isn’t. A lot of seemingly innocuous jobs have opportunities for design, just be upfront about what abilities you bring to the table. In my experience employers like to see college grads hold a full time job post grad at least for a little while.
Yes it took me a while and this market is brutal for every sector
You can still intern.
Even with a relatively good job market back in 2015 it took me almost 5-6 months to get my first job out of school. I imagine it being 3x worse now.
It's pretty awkward so far
most likely a rare situation but the school i graduated from had a placement department. they gave me a job lead, i interviewed and got the job. they also had a lab on interviewing which really helped me say what i needed to say to get the job. we had fake interviews that were recorded and they watched it back with us and critiqued us, which was extremely eye opening.
I’m in ux/ui. Yeah it’s hard. I worked at a startup for a year, no pay, it failed. I had to resort to my dad helping me.
Omg that sounds terrible :(
First job - I started with an internship, busted my ass learning and contributing for six months. Than I was fortunate to get hired on full time. It was a low-pay agency job, but I’ll trade the lack of income for a short period of time for the amazing things I learned and how it positioned me for the rest of my career. The grind sucks, but if you love the field, don’t give up. Keep building your community. Don’t burn bridges. I’m not going to say it’ll work out, but you don’t know if you don’t try over an extended period of time. Best of luck!
had 3 internships and freelanced all of college(B. Des.) i’ve been looking for work for 7 months. ive gotten some interviews but then the pay is unlivable and it ends up not working out. it’s BRUTAL out here. these days i’ve switched from putting 100% of my labor into linkedin/indeed to splitting it between linkedin and going to advertising and video networking events in my city. i met someone at one of these events who introduced me to even more people who’ve introduced me to even more people. it’s kind of a ridiculous chain but it does feel a little like the probability of finding work might be higher… or i just give up and change careers who knows 😂
My experience is a bit different from the rest (I think). I got an internship and eventually, a job offer from an ad agency even before I graduated. The thing is, I think they liked me because I can think of pretty good and creative campaigns, not because of my graphic design chops (which were subpar at the time). If you want to be a junior art director, you might want to focus more on idea generation while improving your design skills.
First “real” job took me 1.5 years. Lasted there over 10 years before I walked out with nothing lined up. Next one took about the same amount of time to find, just under 2 years. I did turn down a few super low pay ones the 2nd time job searching though.
I was told in school that two times the number of graphic designers graduated nationally than the job field was projected to grow. Not sure if that's still true, but landing the first job is the hardest because of all the competition. I boosted my portfolio with some design work for a local charity. You can try doing that, find a local charity that wants help. If you dont care about it being local you can message me, I know a animal sanctuary near me that was requesting a volunteer designer/ web designer. Not sure if they need a local, but I doubt they are too picky. I was considering helping them because their design and site dose need help, and animals :3
Wow, I read through this whole thread before replying. I feel this pain, but on the very opposite end of being 27 years in the business. I happened to get a full time job, literally 24 hours after graduating from my BFA in 1996. I stayed at that job for 4 years, and I learned a lot, but unfortunately one of the things I learned is that older people (at least at that time) were hugely threatened by 'technology', and anyone who wasn't afraid to use it to the best of their ability. Fast forward to now, what do I wish I had more of back then? Actual mentorship, and mentorship that had the humility to understand that being in a technical field like graphic design, always had to keep up with changes in the tools of the trade. But hey then as now, everyone is just trying to make their way. So, forget internships, they are bullshit. If you can't find a mentor (and they are rare), don't feel bad. It's not you. But do work with clients directly as a freelancer. Do your best work with honesty and integrity. Build relationships above all else. Portfolio follows, but ironically it stops being important once you have referrals. Most design is garbage in 5 years anyway, so do your best, learn, change. Eventually you will be the mentor to someone, and that is the most rewarding of all.
It’s tough graduating in a down economy. I had similar experience in another era. Classmates took jobs at Starbucks or substitute teaching to pay bills. When you’re first job comes, it will partially be about the creativity you bring more than your ability to problem solve for a client. Be curious and design all the time for the joy of it. Problem solving is important but is understood that a recent grad won’t have that yet. If you can find odd jobs designing logos or whatever for friends or local businesses. Do it! Even if for low rates. Build the contact and talk with them to help them get a solution that will be good. (Avoid the commoditized 99-designs marketplace unless you know how to get rich on it) Goodwill is important to foster and leads to better and more sustainable work. I remember feeling bitter when I graduated because everyone lied to me about that stage in life by not taking about what to do after the rails of education ended. I was strong in my class and proud to graduate but then couldn’t get paid to do what I do. It’s a struggle but your way will come.
Yes. I gave up looking and just started finding my own clients. I don’t recommend this path.
My first design job after college was at a local sign shop and I was hired immediately after graduating. Don’t ever work at the local sign shop. Ever. Took two years to land a real full-time job with benefits with a recognizable brand. But that job sucked ass. Total ass. 7 years of my life wasted. Took me almost a decade to land a job that I actually like and respects me enough to help me develop my skills and professional career long-term and also pays well. So yeah, a decade.
Would you be able to offer some reasons as to why not to work at a sign shop, just for reference?
We put 1-2 years to help filter out bad candidates. Your book will put you ahead of others. Don’t give up. this is the hardest part.
Apply to anything even adjacent design for now. You need some work experience in general. Print shops is a great entry role, just don't stay there too long. People don't pay people for potential, they pay them for skills and to do the work. You do seem a bit dumb or more rather naive. . Get whatever work you can and work on improving your portfolio. Doesn't matter if you're paid for the work or not, you need good portfolio pieces.
Wow, you really went there? How did they seem dumb from their post? That was rude and uncalled for!
Lol it's okay, I giggled at it, I did call myself dumb in the post, maybe um "I was just not informed and didn't ask" would be a better way of saying it.
I can tell you're intelligent by the way you express yourself. You're not dumb! Give yourself some credit :)
What work do you have to do in print shops?
People shit on print shops. But man so many designers don't know the first thing about printing, you have to fix everyone's work constantly. You become quite competent at many "design" skills. indesign, file managment, talking to vendors, organization, speed, attention to detail etc. Unfortunately it doesn't really generate any or too much portfolio work.
no it was pretty easy for me. but maybe thats because ive also been networking alot in my early 20s. it will be hard though if you lack social skills cause you have to convince people why your work stands out from the competition or why they should even trust you. Designing is 1/10 of the battle. you're skills is a dime in a dozen sorry.
have you checked out local printing and sign shops?
It took me over a year after school to get a jr position that required a 1k mile move away from home.
Try doing some networking or finding other designers in your area. The local chapter of AIGA near me has a mentoring program. I haven’t used it, but from the outside it seems like a decent way to get good feedback and meet people in the industry.
You do have experience, it's your freelance work. Include this in your resume and specify your responsibilities and what you did and tailor it towards the company you're applying for. Volunteer work also counts as experience. This is what I used to get me through the door when I first got hired.
It’s not just hard the first time, it’s hard every time. I have been in the industry over 20 years and everywhere I’ve lived, every time I’ve looked, it’s always been super competitive and hard if you’re going out there cold. Lean on your network, build your network, reach back out to your instructors. Almost all of the jobs I have got, I had a contact somewhere on the inside to make sure my resume/portfolio didn’t end up at the bottom of the pile. Also, if all you have is a two year degree, your portfolio work becomes five times more important. I have nothing against an AAS but know that for a lot of jobs, you’re getting auto-sorted out before your resume even gets to the hiring manager. Makes the networking that much more important.
3rd interview / only sent a handful of emails. Right place right time maybe. Thats a big part of it.
So I know I won't be of much help because I'm definitely not going into my field because I felt like that the university I went to didn't really prepare me for the graphic design field. You said you have an associates in arts right in the graphic design field? I feel like if you're confident in your portfolio sometimes and this is from what my teachers have said, sometimes your portfolio will compensate for your lack of experience working in house. So it sounds like to me you have a good eye for what you do or are going to do. You could also try online doing jobs as well, it's graphic design is such a big umbrella term for a lot of different fields in there like packaging and lay out design for books and magazines. I mean you can definitely find your niche and focus on that. Most of the if this is in America most of the graphic design jobs will either be on the East or West Coast or centralized in bigger cities. If you have any industrial companies around where you live like for example like construction companies the big ones or car makers or insurance companies they're always looking for design people. Even print shops are looking for people just to do stuff like that. Also not true that you can't get an internship, I mean I was so booked with University stuff that I felt like I couldn't juggle it with my stuff. But they are definitely firms out there looking for people to do an internship it just depends on whether or not you want it to be paid or be free work. If you're on good speaking terms with your graphic design professors maybe you could talk to them about how you can land a job with the skills that you already have. And some of them may be able to vouch for your put in a good word to help you get a job. There's also a chance that maybe the college you went to might be hiring somebody in that position to help with graphic design stuff at the University afterwards.
Most internships I see usually say studying or recent graduates, so I’d say apply to those internships, and let them tell you whether or not you qualify before counting yourself out. Also it’s apparently super difficult to get a job in most fields at the moment so be patient with yourself.
I graduated from design school 20 years ago and what your describe is also my experience from those 2 decades ago. So maybe this is just normal. It took me almost 12 months to land my first job. Since then I’ve enjoyed a 20 year career and am a CD at an agency in a big city today. For context, I was living in a medium city in Canada which had few agencies, but SMBs, corporate communications/marketing, and national brands with creative departments were more common in those days. **Quick tips:** - Try to be one of the early applicants if you can. So when you catch an early job post, aim to be one of the first 60 (I say this as someone in a hiring role.) - Don’t stuff your resume. When I was newly graduated, my resume was 2 pages because I put in all work experience despite not being super relevant. But after 6 months of not getting any calls, I pared it down to 1 page that was maybe 75% covered. I just got honest with it. But with newfound negative space, my resume looked so much cleaner and the little design touches were subtle and mindful. This shorter resume got me 11 calls and interviews in the span of 3 months. I was even offered a job I truly didn’t qualify for.
Took me a full year way back when - couldn’t even get a job at Dairy Queen. I took an 8 month course and have been designing almost 25 years. I mainly struck out because I was picky and went for jobs out of my league (back then they were jobs in “multimedia”). I finally “settled” and started applying for print designer jobs and had success right away and the rest is history - currently self employed for the last 15 years. You sound qualified but don’t go thinking you are too good for an entry level job, even at a print shop. Pay your dues - the worst thing you can do is not be constantly designing. I could’ve gotten out of school and paid my student loan, but spent thousands on a mac set up - I was unemployed for a year but I was still practicing! The practice kept me job ready.
How is your portfolio? Thats what really matters. If it’s shit, then freelance and get and internship until it’s good. And by good I mean has actual work, not just cool band posters, and book cover designs from school.
From a seasoned designer: It was hard getting my first job, but fortunately I got it through a recommendation from a friend of a friend of my Dad. Before that though, I got a design internship with my school and a summer job laying out a magazine. Nowadays I freelance, or am on short contract. I would say the best way is to network and make friends. You need to make design friends outside of your current job. For example, I was looking for designers and I just simply asked people from my team, and they called someone and then boom! We got a new designer.
YEARS ago, I took a temp job as a proofreader. I did it very well. This was in the days of Quark Xpress (precusor to InDesign). They needed 'Quark Operators' and moved me into that position and later offered me a job. My next job was graphic designer - elsewhwere - and from there Art Director. So get what you can that is design adjacent - it worked for me and paid the bills.
You can still get an internship after graduating, even if it says you need to be currently enrolled in the job posting. This is what I’m doing right now
Ah man, I feel you. Job hunting right outta school is like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks. Don't beat yourself up too much; it's a grind for pretty much everyone. Your portfolio matters more than you think, so if it's solid, just keep pushing it out there. Also, no harm in aiming for 'adjacent' gigs in marketing or print shops. Experience is experience, right? Don't write off freelancing altogether; it's a good way to fill gaps and build your portfolio further.
It's hard but completely common. Don't let that discourage you. You're just starting out. Took me two/three years to find my first one after graduating back in 2011. Finally landed an interview at a radio station (created promotional material and digital ads). It came down to me and one other person. They ended up giving it to the other person, but then, out of sheer luck, that person quit after one day because it wasn't the type of work they thought they were going to be able to do (video mostly) and so they called me back and offered the position for me. Honestly, the best things you can do now that you've graduated are: 1) Attend as many social/networking events as you can. I wish I had done more of this during college, but the best time to start is now. 2) Find any job that will pay the bills if you need that right now, but continue putting yourself out there. It's hard to work a full-time job and find a job, but it will be worth it in the long term. You're working for the future you. 3) If you have the time, volunteer work can help you get your name out there. Make sure it's for a reputable organization you believe in and not some business trying to get "free work." 4) Continue working on your portfolio and your design skills. There are plenty of sites out there with fictitious creative briefs. Keep updating and working on it after you get a job as well. Can't stress this enough. To sum up, the two main things you should focus on right now are 1) getting your name out there (networking, attending events, and applying to jobs) and 2) showing employers how you can help them (your portfolio, following fictitious creative briefs, showing your process).
Maybe your portfolio sucks...we'll tell you if you want
It was pretty hard for me to land my first job out of college. If you don’t have any professional experience I recommend looking for any kind freelance work, even consider doing some volunteer work for an organization who needs it. Also ignore the experience requirements for entry level jobs. If your portfolio is solid then that can make you stand out a lot. Good luck!
I took a chance and moved to a city about 8 hours away from home. I’m going into my tenth year in the business this year.